These Things Are Alive

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The salp's seemingly simple body hides a surprisingly complex life history that involves cloning itself, changing sex, and fighting climate change through the power of poop.
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[@BizarreBeasts]

Start speaking a new language in 3 weeks with Babbel. Get up to 60% OFF your subscription here: bit.ly/bizarrebeastssept

[@VandalJoy]

You guys should do a video on mole crabs their adorable!! Emerita analoga

[@askthebubble28]

@@VandalJoyor maybe a video of THE WHOLE ANIMAL KINGDOM Kingdom Animalia

[@emom358]

Hank, is that a mustache?

[@EmpressOfExile206]

It almost seems like misinformation to say that salps are having an effect on human-caused climate change... They're part of the carbon cycle which has been running since long before our interference! Also the 🌎 itself produces tons of carbon & greenhouse gas through eruptions and other geological processes in that same natural cycle. This means that the rise in greenhouse gasses, etc. causing our current climate change is because humans are dumping into the system at a rate that *far exceeds the capacity* of all the natural processes combined‼️ (including the ocean's carbon sink) TL;DR: The fact that we're discovering all these natural carbon sinks *does not* change the climate outlook because those processes were already in place before we altered the climate and if they couldn't eliminate the carbon we dumped into the atmosphere then they wont be able to now either! Only stopping *human sources* that contribute to climate change will have any effect on it 💯

[@raystephens9550]

Or president

[@geelllee]

starting off in infancy with a brain and losing it as an adult seems like it should be some kind of metaphor

[@JackFrost008]

​@@ahelidas6475yup

[@daddymuggle]

Story of my life, mate

[@ajchapeliere]

You know that Asimov quote about anti-intellectualism in the U.S.?

[@rainmaker7667]

Of course I know that guy. He's me.

[@DoroteaTheMacuahuitl-Potato]

@@ajchapeliereI’m afraid I don’t. Which is embarrassing.

[@infrabread]

The deeper you go in the ocean, the more everything starts to look like a sentient sneeze.

[@geekogen]

I scream laughed

[@ChaosMagnet]

I was too high to handle this wonderful comment. Laughed so hard I started to wheeze!

[@Laurpud]

I LOLed 😂

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

Honestly.... yeah. You're right. I never thought about it like that, but you nailed it 😂😂😂 Disgusting, hilarious and true. My favorite kinds of jokes lol

[@purpleheart3431]

HAHAH ITS TRUE

[@fakjbf3129]

I went SCUBA diving in the Caribbean during the salp breeding season. You would be swimming along and suddenly find yourself surround by translucent strings floating through the water, curling around your arms as you try to brush them aside. Kinda freaky the first time it happened but you get used to it quickly.

[@ConstantChaos1]

I think I would find it very cool, so long as I knew it was the season beforehand and the water was clear

[@marsbase3729]

Also I imagine for those thinking they were jellyfish, being stressed out about getting stung

[@jolenechandler4192]

That story made me shiver 😮

[@briseboy]

Come to waters in the Pacific during jellyfish blooms, and enjoy how the nematocysts make you itchy and in some pain, including within your wetsuot.

[@eragonawesome]

​@@briseboy no thank you lol

[@kye27420]

I wouldn't be surprised if salps first evolved in the Cambrian and we just don't have salp fossil because they are so soft bodied. They seem like one of those creatures that evolved 500+ million years ago and have just kept going relatively unchanged since then.

[@miniverse2002]

Indeed. Being part of the tunicates, it's hard to map out the whole evolutionary history of their group and in general animals back then. That being said, there are theories that some of the tunicates may have lost their ability to transform into adults and stayed into the larval form their entire lives giving rise to the first fish. Some of them have stayed unchanged and perhaps some of them decided to build civilization, go to space, and talk about salps in their fancy internet.

[@derAtze]

​@@miniverse2002gene sequencing questionmark?

[@katbairwell]

Losing brain and backbone as adult, constantly eating, asexual, and despite appearance, not a jellyfish. To put it plainly, I am a Salp.

[@thethirdchimpanzee]

I am trying really hard NOT to make some really lame political "Oh, so just like the____ party!" joke. ;)

[@katbairwell]

@@thethirdchimpanzee I can't speak for the entire community, but I would certainly forgive you! That said, it would be a very unfair comparison for the poor Salps, being compared to me is a low enough blow, but to compare them to politicians, is simply insulting! ;)

[@janerecluse4344]

​@@thethirdchimpanzeePlease, if only they were asexual!

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

That's extremely sad....

[@katbairwell]

@@MatthewTheWanderer Perhaps to the outsider, but we get the cards we're dealt, and it's up to us to make the most of them - in my case, that usually means somewhat-crass jokes at my own expense.

[@creepercrepe8910]

No google, I didn't mean "slaps."

[@EmilyQueerSweetness]

Lol...

[@delphicdescant]

. > Adds "-slaps" to search > gives you "slaps" results anyway

[@StarbyterOddities]

I dyslexia'd the thumbnail as "SLAP STORM" and was incredibly confused, and somewhat frightened, by the implications of how slaps could be alive

[@chibichibi51]

😂😂😂

[@morganitEm00NrAVEN]

Percussion-only metal band

[@thomasnaas2813]

'Slap Storm' sounds like a description of a Three Stooges late night tv marathon.

[@sshuggi]

"Lose their brain as an adult." I feel that; maybe we *are* closely related.

[@5nowChain5]

POLITICIANS 😂

[@TheLucasdms]

One of my most hated memory is when I was a kid at the beach. I was always a biology nerd, loved watching animal planet all day and reading about the wildlife diversity. One day I learned about some turnicates that make a house of their own mucous fluids and periodically throw them away. I didn't remember the name but I clearly remember the visual of it. Cut to a few weeks later, we are at the beach with aunts, uncles and cousins, when there is this comotion about one guy catching "jellyfish" with his hand. Turns out there where a bunch of the mucous house of these small turnicates showing up at the beach, and the guy was catching with his hand and giving to people. I tried explaining that it clearly wasn't jellyfish, not only was it too hollow, too spongie, but also there were no tentacles or mouth. It was something else that, at the time, I did not remember the name. You can imagine my frustration when these grown ass adults kept saying I was wrong, it was clearly a jellyfish (no points made, just that I was wrong), and that it was just different from the other jellyfish. I still remember the frustration and sadness of not being heard just because I was a kid, even though I had spent more time learning about wildlife in the little years I had than they did in their whole life.

[@samandom8772]

I hope some of them read this comment so they can experience the full humilliating power of "um, actually"

[@betsywoolbright8059]

I've been discounted much of my life, too, due to being young.

[@dungeonbrownies]

Not all loud people are dumb, but almost all dumb people are loud. 🥲

[@katyungodly]

Nothing more frustrating than _knowing_ you're correct and still having people tell you they know better than you.

[@drill_fiend1097]

Larvaceans. They basically just grow into their semi-larvae form and retain their tail while also making a net of mucus to filter feed. You should've told those adults if they were handling jellyfish, it would have stung them.

[@toaofawesomness4792]

I love when I learn something and get the word stuck in my head. Like "anomalocaris" "bifurcated" and now a day after watching this video my brain is just repeating the word "salp" to me over and over again lol. In its defence, salp is a really good word.

[@rottingsun]

lmao same tbh

[@deriko11d]

me asf 🙂🙂🙂

[@sharendonnelly7770]

Was confused at the beginning of the video as the "salp" looked like a siphonophore. Two completely different things as I discovered by Googling them. Salps are chordates. What an amazing creature that is helping save the world!

[@AroundTheBlockAgain]

I can relate! Sometimes you can see siphonophores AND salps AND comb jellies in the Zooniverse Plankton Portal (citizen science where you can identify plankton) and maybe this is a personal Skill Issue, sometimes it doesn't seem fair trying to differentiate a small blob as a rocketship siphonophore, from a salp, from a beroid comb jelly x_x

[@Rubrickety]

The salp may also be the animal whose name sounds most like it should be an acronym.

[@nullstudios2989]

Speak of the devil, someone came up with an acronym for it right below you!

[@NotSomeJustinWithoutAMoustache]

The comment's above you now, at least for me.

[@samwill7259]

Salvage All Life by Pooping

[@deHakkelaar1]

I once experienced a full moon coral spawn while scuba diving Koh Tau. The next day during a night dive while the coral was still spawning a little, we found ourselves surrounded by thousands of these salps attracted by our torches. You couldnt see as far as half a meter and you had to dim your torch for half a minute or so to be able to see again. An amazing rainbow light show spectacle at night and one I'll never forget.

[@aidanmaxwell3381]

So cool how small animals working together have such an impact

[@veqv]

I know there are structural reasons why this wouldn't work, but I REALLY want a random mutation to make just... the biggest salp. Just huge. Unfathomable. The biggest guy ever.

[@AroundTheBlockAgain]

I mean, what if bigger fish want a Salp Submarine, too? I bet they do lmao

[@lukeblackford1677]

On a decompression stop in the Gulf of Mexico, I grabbed one of those things, and the little critter inside swam out bd away. I had no idea what it was. Now I know! A salp body with an amphipod in it.

[@troyclayton]

Ha! When you sad they were more closely related to us the 'jellyfish' I cynically thought, "they better at least be chordates". Well played!

[@djukor]

I wonder if all the vertebrates today are essentially just descendants of a Larva that refused to grow up.

[@xRollermaniacx]

Seems legit.

[@caintheweirdo9945]

I mean, that's basically neoteny in a nutshell so...

[@sliceofham3737]

Probably more likely the inverse, could be similar to how viruses seem to have come from much more complex organisms that we would classify as life.

[@djukor]

@@sliceofham3737 True i have also heard that sea squirts may be a regressive evolution.

[@miniverse2002]

It's one of the theories. Though the reverse is possible too. We don't know which way it went.

[@LordWaterBottle]

I love it when people think they are shitposting, just to turn out to just be correct a hundred years later.

[@AroundTheBlockAgain]

Apollo is always getting ready to bean someone in the head with the red dodgeball of Prophecy

[@CrystalFier]

What's it called when a string of salps wraps around your arm, cutting off your circulation? .. ... .... A tunicate. I'll see myself out. 😂

[@libbywiskowski9618]

As a phlebotomist I appreciate this here joke. 😂

[@memyself3510]

Ok the baby fish riding inside of it was kind of adorable

[@kargoncoppercoin2093]

I feel like calling them "sentient" plastic wrap might be too generous lmao

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

Especially with how good plastic wrap is at getting away from you in a windy area 😂 suckers are dodging me, I swear

[@etheraelespeon1986]

I agree, but technically sentient just means "able to respond to stimuli." This usage *is* correct, it's just that sentient's meaning has recently (due to scifi, i believe) drifted to be synonymous with sapient

[@Spencer-wc6ew]

​@@etheraelespeon1986I think this is the first time I've encountered someone else who knows the difference between sentient and sapient, lol

[@etheraelespeon1986]

@@Spencer-wc6ew Hell yeah! I love linguistics facts hehe, however I do think using the archaic, technical definition of sentient here, while "correct" from a perscriptivist point of view, is a bad idea in an entry-level scientific communication project directed at the general public

[@skyfeelan]

2:43 "salps begin their adult life as asexual solitary individuals" they are indeed our closest inverterbrate relative

[@rs86]

At first, I read "slap storm". I imagined dying by thousands of disembodied hands.

[@s.m.9871]

Not my brain being like “omg I was just talking about salps last night” pls keep in mind that I am not a marine biologist nor do I do anything in my life that would necessitate me talking about salps on a regular basis lmao

[@missnaomi613]

Yeah, but they're cool as heck!

[@7792pnaurfr]

I don't think anybody said you were

[@s.m.9871]

@@7792pnaurfr thanks for your input pineapple

[@AroundTheBlockAgain]

What was the salp context, if you remember?

[@joehopfield]

Salps are amazing. Clarification: they don't "undergo" diel vertical migration, they perform/exhibit...

[@kylevanzandbergen3285]

Wait, you think the boring ‘stuff from the water clogs stuff’ fact is better than the super metal ‘fish eats organism and uses its body as a stroller?’ 😂

[@leviholt4557]

So incredibly sad that I don't have the funds to activate my subscription anymore... I love salps 😢

[@sabrina-wq4uu]

Me too. This month's pin looks like a winner.

[@gary362]

Thanks!

[@isaacthek]

Curious how salps interact with microplastics

[@kellydalstok8900]

How long after trying to start a conversation it takes until they realise they’re talking to a plastic bag, you mean?

[@heatherhamilton6960]

Very interesting! Great to see some of my footage in there. ✨ Was very lucky to see 2 salp blooms in Cornwall, UK over the past year. This is the second summer we have seen them in British waters and this time even larger species! @cornwallunderwater

[@crackedemerald4930]

salp is a fun word to say

[@rinashort3919]

Merch idea: t shirt that says "salps are people too"

[@bethaniepetitpas5699]

Salps are awesome! Influenced the movie 'the Abyss'!

[@JestaKilla]

Is that "Sutherland et al" credit on the video near the start out of Woods Hole, MA? That might well be my cousin Sandy's work!

[@mrmosty5167]

So it's like bone-in Jello

[@LM-lv6fv]

I am truly loving your way of explaining such complex marine phenomena 🫶🏼👍🏼 As a marine biology teacher, I could see using your vids as a fun way to show students our magnificent under sea world 🌎💖 Your footage and discussion are really wonderful 👍🏼🤩 Thank You 🙏🏼

[@MichahAbigailMcKiney]

Wow! This was such a fun and informative video. Whoever wrote this script is a genius!

[@lilpixie25]

Wow, astounding! Biology is incredible with systems inside systems inside systems, all somehow working together in an orchestra of life!

[@gbjsyzftbcacjyfubjygkgcjae3182]

6:21 FLATFISH SPOTTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@17joren]

Love this channel! Parasitic crustaceans getting inside to feed? Reminds me of the Scavenger’s Reign episode with the sea creatures. What an amazing, yet provoking sci-fi show! I recommend it to the crew of this channel if they haven’t watched already, it’s loaded with wacky xenobiology 🙂

[@aduckofsomesort]

Alternative title: What is better than a water bear? And why it is salps.

[@LinksQuestResearch]

Nah I’m a tardigrade supremacist

[@chaerodactyl]

everything we learn about ocean energy cycles points to the same thing mycorrhizal networks, tectonic plate cycles, and electromagnetic dynamo of the Earth tell us: the planet is a living, dynamic, conscious superorganism the likes of which we can scarcely comprehend. we are cells to our planet, planets to our cells.

[@KeyserTheRedBeard]

Awesome video, Bizarre Beasts. Can't wait to see more content from you. I smashed that thumbs up button on your upload. Keep up the exceptional work!

[@renedemers8218]

OH HEY! Pelagic Tunicates! Shockingly, I'm familiar with these already thanks to them being a mean on my favorite science communicating Dino's channel

[@zipsey]

Walter Monk was like “Hey guys, funny hypothesi- I mean joke here… if zooplankton eat phytoplankton then poop their reminds out after deil vertical migration, would the transfer of carbon & nutrients from point A to point B have substantial ecological implications? Haha just kidding… unless …👉👈”

[@CuriousDust]

This is propably best video on youtube on salps, however if i type salp into youtube search bar this video doest apear.

[@ThatJaymsWisdom]

If I could only watch one video series for the rest of my life this would be the one. Thanks as always

[@pw601]

I remember going to Sharm el Sheik, Naama Bay a very long time ago to finish off my PADI training. The Bay was literally choked with a bloom of Salps. The movement of the water was sluggish. Once you squelched passed them there were less at depth but the water surface was very indistinct and it was a bit disorientating.

[@robramsey5120]

How many Tasmanias is two Delawares?

[@AiNaKa]

two delawares is 0.188 tasmanias

[@LouisDeebank]

Thank you for properly pronouncing ZOOPLANNKTON!! You correctly said "ZO-OPLANKTON" and not as so many do "ZOO-PLANKTON" or "ZOO-OPLANKTON." Thank-you!! Great video aswell.

[@anonymousmaelstrom9530]

I love hearing more about these blobs

[@spoopyd.8910]

I remember that one show from Nat Geo that portrayed this thing as a human building it's house thing with its own snot..... That explains a lot of things about my childhood now that I think about it.

[@Science4Real]

their life cycle and the way they clone themselves to adapt to the environment are truly unique. Nature is always full of surprises

[@jaelyndennis8736]

This is my new favorite channel

[@raeraebadfingers]

One to TWENTY SEVEN meters long! Omg

[@claesvanoldenphatt9972]

When I grow up I want to be a Salp.

[@FinolaMulholland]

The name 'salp' sounds as if it is an acronym, especially given the many talents of this extraordinary life-form. Any suggestions ?

[@jenn_willey]

You are literally the only human being in the world that can make me feel positive about our future. I really really apppreciate you, Hank. Thank you for being born :-)

[@Moengski]

This is one of those videos that get increasingly wild with every sentence spoken

[@lestat1491]

hey hank you're the best, thanks for making every day of my life better.

[@spacepopeXIV]

That photo of the diver amongst the salps looks like a gnarly maritime impressionist painting. Like something the late great Jacques Cousteau would've had hanging in his room.

[@brandir.woltman1626]

I think I was to late for September but how do I get a pin? I just found out about this super awsome channel so subscribed right away loved the salp info lol

[@altejoh]

The extra confusing part is there is another animal with a similar body plan and strategy, that *is* closer related to jellyfish xD

[@buckanderson3520]

Baby salp: "mom are we there yet"? Mom:............. Baby salp: "Mom"?

[@mattxzilla3938]

This video salps

[@corlisscrabtree3647]

Thank you 🙏🏼

[@Uthgardloki]

Our distant cousins really got our back, taking one for the team

[@tomasgray6441]

Nice one...thanks

[@Texan_christian1132]

Why am i literally just hearin that this chordate class exists?

[@marenjones6665]

I get salps, pyrosomes, and siphonophores confused.

[@FairMiles]

I knew how to count Mississippis. Never counted Delawares, though…

[@pbrown7501]

3:43 "How did these tubes of sentient plastic wrap" I very much doubt they think or feel in any meaningful way, since you've already explained their lack of the equipment required for that kind of thing.

[@askthebubble28]

I’m guessing our next beast is a species of bat or bat like species

[@ambergris5705]

Crazy to think that a jet-powered plastic poop bag is more closely related to us than a bee is.

[@darthgrif6543]

Bizarre Beasts! do an episode on the Nitroplasts discovered in april! it's a new organelle that is found in a specific marine algea! Or find a channel that can! This info is groundbreaking in my opinion

[@ambassador-classenjoyer6239]

I see Salp in the thumbnail. "Cool, a video about that Hyperspace tabletop! Neat!" I watch. I discover new spirit animal.

[@keneola]

Is it possible to air-drop salp swarms onto algae blooms like fighting forest fires?

[@happycapy4]

Salp Farming seems like a cool sci fi concept for a runaway greenhouse planet

[@zeash482]

is it weird that as a young politician I am imagining in my head arguments on how to sell a salp seeding program to the gov?

[@crocosnz3322]

"Sentient plastic wrap" evocative and fun, but when they're at that stage I thought they didn't have a brain?

[@6Unknown_Source9]

Since we're talking about long chains of brainless jelly, I think it's about time to talk about Siphonophores like Praya Dubia and Man ó war for example

[@CatBuchanan]

I. Love. You. Ok. I love your presentation style and the fact that you make Science interesting and approachable. You, sir, are AWESOMESAUCE.

[@lexslate2476]

The world is full of weird things. Thank you for sharing information about this one.

[@brianlovesart]

I was just reading about salps yesterday and now this?! I feel targeted in the best way

[@tylermacdonald8924]

Would it be stupid to put salps in Lake Erie?

[@rhoharane]

6:22 I wanted to know what fish that was.

[@suicune690]

Looks like a sole.

[@mrtienphysics666]

this is a very good and informative video.

[@lostusaslambus]

That background is awesome

[@WolfNymph]

Salps, one of my very favorite things on earth!

[@Rose_Butterfly98]

They seem to be the Earth's temperature regulators in a way. Carbon dioxide levels go up, the temperature goes up, the amount if phytoplankton goes up, the amount of salps go up, the amount of carbon dioxide goes down and if there's no excessive carbon dioxide production like what we're doing, it probably doesn't usually get to the point of massive blooms.

[@MontgomeryWenis]

How exactly does the gene pool stay varied enough when every male is just an adult female clone? Do their genes change with their sex?

[@lunkel8108]

No but it's not like every salp is a clone of every other salp. Sure, the male may be part of a clonal population in which all members share the same DNA but there are also other clonal populations with different DNA. And when a male with one set of alleles mates with a female with a different set of alleles, you get the classic intra- and interchromosomal recombination of sexual reproduction that increases diversity. You get offspring with a new unique set of alleles.

[@DJFracus]

To be clear, the males generally reproduce with females from other aggregates, not from their own asexually-produced aggregate. So the gene pool stays diverse in the same way as it does with any sexually reproducing species.

[@AncientWildTV]

The concept of males being "adult female clones" isnt quite accurate in most biological contexts. If every male were an "adult female clone," they wouldnt be able to contribute genetically diverse material unless there was some mechanism for genetic variation in the cloning process. In a more typical biological system, males and females contribute uniquely to genetic diversity through s3xual reproduction, and their genes do not change with s3x but are involved in different ways during reproduction.

[@Laurpud]

The most cursed baby stroller 🤣

[@robinowlsworth7354]

could you like, transplant them from area to area, assuming correct ph and all that? Are there freshwater salps that could be used to manage farm runoffs saturated with hard nutrients?

[@danser_theplayer01]

❌Human centipede ✅Salp centipede

[@ashb8036]

What about the plainfin midshipman fish? They sing/hum and buzz/bark. And it’s audible above the water. Thanks

[@askthebubble28]

1:59 Coral: OI- 🪸

[@thethirdchimpanzee]

Hear me out, 2 words: "transparent sushi"

[@Zappygunshot]

Growing & multiplying phytoplankton is a pretty trivial task. Perhaps a method of achieving actually effective carbon capture might be to seed algal blooms and letting the salps ferry the carbon down to the seabed.